Word: riot
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...favorite riot, funny until it turned fatal, occurred at New York City's Astor Place Theater in May 1849, when factions supporting two rival Shakespearean actors--William Macready, the mincing traditionalist from England, and Edwin Forrest, the obstreperous, furniture-chewing American--became so violent at Macready's performance of Macbeth that the militia was summoned. The militia opened fire, and 22 boisterous theater lovers died...
There are reasons, good or bad, to have a riot: to protest police brutality; to celebrate winning the World Series. Harvard students once rioted because the university started issuing diplomas in English instead of Latin...
...riot needs no reason at all. It was hard to put one's finger on what exactly touched off the messy end last week of Woodstock '99, the three-day rock festival held in sweltering heat on an inhospitable decommissioned Air Force base in upstate New York. The overflowing Port-o-Sans that no one bothered to empty? The formidable mounds of garbage that no one collected? The rip-off prices--$4 for a bottle of water, $7.50 for a chicken sandwich? In retrospect, it seems odd that rock fans would travel halfway across the country...
...time to go over this again: it is normal, perhaps even to be expected, that when a crowd the size of the City of Rochester, N.Y., is assembled in an unshaded field and is overcharged, peddled drugs and hosed down with vehemently moronic music, then something like a riot may come to pass. Garbage in, garbage...
After a full two hours of play in the championship game, there was still no score. Wow, that's excitement! No more football for me. Now I know why all those foreigners riot at soccer tournaments. They want their money back. CLAY LOOMIS Arroyo Grande, Calif...